Popular wisdom holds that “curiosity killed the cat.” This phrase is used to warn people against being to inquisitive for their own good. If you don’t ask questions, you won’t find out any information that could get you dead. Eliminating curiosity is good for people or organizations with something to hide. It also good for those who want to exert dogmatic control on their followers. However, humans need to be curious. It improves imagination and leads to greater creativity.
Continue readingFollow Mr. Rogers’ Advice and Create Something Today
I grew up watching Mr. Rogers. He was one of my father figures, and I’m glad he was there for me when my actual dad couldn’t or wouldn’t be. Mr. Rogers taught about make-believe, feelings, and being true to yourself regardless of what others thought. In the clip below, Mr. Rodgers urges you to take action and create something today. Creating something is a core part of your human beingness.
Continue readingImprove Your Imagination for Greater Creativity: Hot Lava Monster
The first step to greater creativity is believing that you are creative and you can become more creative. Many people have had their creativity beaten out of them. Schools and workplaces rarely reward creativity because creative people are disruptive in the classroom and often fail because they are trying something new. Creativity is attacked on two levels: the imagination and the actual creation. If you think you have no imagination, read on to improve your imagination.
Continue readingCreating a New Experience at Penguinate.com
As we move forward and adapt to our new world, we’re creating a new experience at penguinate.com. We plan on opening a shop of sorts, but we’re going to change the focus from an in-house experience to a virtual one. We’ll still have penguins and indie author books and people will be able to come in and see them. However, our space is going to move toward being more of a workplace.
Continue reading‘The Pruitt-Igoe Myth’ exposes wrong lessons learned from Pruitt-Igoe
(Editor’s note: This article was originally published at examiner.com.) “The Pruitt-Igoe Myth” (affiliate link) examines the demise of the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex in St. Louis. The housing project was supposed to help lift people out of poverty. It lasted 18 years before the city decided to demolish it because of a lack of maintenance, low occupancy and high crime rates.
Continue readingHow to Build a Digital Press Kit for Artists and Writers
(I originally published this story at medium.com.) With all of the options for publishing these days, you may not even realize that a blogger or a journalist was looking for something to write about you or your work. They hit upon your website, thought they could do a story, and realized that there wasn’t enough there for them. Or worse, they had a story written and didn’t have any photos or media to go with it. Maybe they tried to get a hold of you, but you weren’t available. The story missed its deadline and was never published. One solution to this is a digital press kit. Here’s what you should have in your press kit.
Continue readingThe First Step to Selling (Anything): Attitude
Many people think of marketing, advertising and selling as part of some icky thing they have to do to survive. It’s this belief that leads to an attitude that holds them back, and the right attitude is the first step to selling (anything).
Continue readingGetting Pwned during High School PE Soccer Class
My 30th high school reunion is coming up this year. There is a certain contingent of people trying to get something virtual to happen since it appears travel and gathering in large groups will still be problematic throughout the summer. Of course, this has sent me down memory lane… We were required to take physical education. It was my least favorite class because of the locker room, my lack of skills and size, and I never really improved in athletics. I was more of an art and math guy, though to be fair some of our athletes were also math guys.
Continue reading‘Mother-Daughter Relationship in Disney Films’ Critique Leaves Something to Be Desired
(This article contains affiliate links. If you order something from an affiliate link, the seller still gets full price, our website gets a small commission, and it costs the same as if you went to Amazon without the link.) In her essay “Eighty-Six the Mother,” in 1995’s “From Mouse to Mermaid: The politics of film, gender, and culture,” Lynda Haas discusses the penchant for Disney films to kill the mother and avoid telling stories about the mother-daughter relationship. There’s no question that Disney has gotten rid of the mother in many of its stories. Even if it’s because of the story told by the source material, Disney still chose the type of material it wanted to bring to the screen.
Continue readingGo Viral: Top-Viewed Articles of May 2020 on Penguinate and Medium
As a blog writer, I have several goals, and they all intertwine. Perhaps, the biggest goal is to write what people want to read and share. Firstly, the number of page views directly influences my income. More viewers mean more money. Secondly, and maybe just as important, I can write a thousand articles, but if no one reads them, what good are they? I want my writing to impact people, help them learn, or bring them some entertainment. In order for that to happen, I need people to read the articles. Otherwise, I could write a journal and put it on my shelf for whomever to find after I die.
Continue reading
Penguinate! Positive Creativity 